SMS the perfect business-to-consumer mechanism

The number of mobile connections globally continues to grow year-over-year, a new report by Portio Research shows.

Expecting to reach 10 billion by 2020, the number of mobile connections will significantly outpace the human population. This growth has facilitated a change in the way people communicate and consume media, moving away from the desktop PC and TV. This shift toward ‘mobile first’ or in some cases ‘mobile only’ should be reflected in how businesses expand their communication services, it is said in a follow-up press release.

The report, sponsored by OpenMarket and titled, “SMS: The Language of 6 Billion People,” highlights that of the 7.3 billion people worldwide, 6.1 billion use an SMS-enabled phone, which amounts to 84 per cent of the global population making it more prevalent than any global language.

In fact, Application-to-Person (A2P) connects more people than any other platform in human history, making SMS the ideal mechanism for businesses to use to communicate with their customers.

“With more people owning a mobile phone than a toothbrush, it’s clear that ‘mobile first’ is much more than just a buzzword,” said Karl Whitfield, managing director of Portio Research. “The way we interact has evolved in such a way that our mobile phones represent a conduit to the world around us, as we use them to communicate, shop for goods and consume content. This means that companies should not just incorporate mobile messaging into their communications strategy, but rather build their strategy around it.”

SMS affords businesses a direct line to each and every consumer while also facilitating two-way communications between brand and consumer. Together with its familiarity and ubiquity, SMS is the optimal channel for enterprise communication in the ‘mobile first’ age.